The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, November 08, 1922, Image 14
A HELL 0
By A. B. Williams, Form<
News, in The Lon
Th.. ea Iis not intended to be
profanel. It is faithfully dertl criptiv'e.
Novciber 7. It is he tlt eate for the
electioli this year. It is. ly buri n
In th :ikIlmories of ithose who were ill
the I litek Belt state of the south ilt
tl' 401uI.th in IS7640 ity-Six yeNrs ago.
November 7 was the election day of
that yea atd it was looked to with
hopc and horror. it markeod thle timev
When L'i, wiitt pouilation wotild be
forct lien I roul at hol I becoiIn:,
war:.-v dailly or wold ho established Inl
It D'. litan IOvet'lilnttits 1111 Ieei
re-elect-d in the statc; ol South ('ato
Him, inulisianla, P-lorida and1 ( AlIiss i
ipi, Nvetmbler 7, 1876, there twould
ha ' 'n n1tothing for tle mass or tihe
whi ;tpel Ic 10 but to (10, art swift
V. 1m tby lt e' tn ited States arm1y,
wthiK., a1 btast. would have been hon
st 1 vently jlst w ile it was .1
lowt last. Tking South Carolina
ty Aof th other states,
tol - :l l" was not aI mere slogan
t1 ' Cpai cry. It Was the Iel -
\oier i, dec4larat ion of, thle clearly
for01d1-pose of, the( weople. It mleant
I lamn t> 0:1. the Iemocratic nOtuirI-t.
veor' or such fralntic and wide
re'ad disturhalce as .ould force tle
fedIr. amIiitnist rIit Ionl to establish
ifilitaItry law aild occupy ihe state with
thdt army.
\nk forI1*",41t now, or, fail to untder
5trai, that exact 13 what is being (one
Itiin I. Wts undtaIlkein in these
Ameican. states thiough tihe teln years
from ! to la i;-rule of the pro
letaria:. of those who 'Iarin little and
po.-(.-s nothing;-' transfer of the landI
from '11t);ce who owiled it to those who
war.t d it: destructioni of tihe Iigh bred
and the idlle clisses: shiftinlg of the
hottO ail to flit top. And Cultured
rich. conservtt Ive Now E-nglaid insti
1tdI an Ittetipted this work. Mas
sachustits. .M1aine, Verimnont, furnished
lie zealots. the fana1ticl avenigetrs, the
eithusiastic uplifters and overturn- I
e's: New Yourk 111d Pennsylvania the
sordlid. gr'eely, coarse and coimton
crCokls ald thieves. And crazed idolt
ist antd thilet and thug workitng togeth
er for the ruin of a civilization.
. IThe sit ution just Iied the I tIradt,
liadet dense the black ness. of the hor
ror. showed hardly a gleam of hoite.
\\'hile the Ku lux Klan rode abroad.
HIlently and grimly pIicketed the cross
oIds. introlled villages and town and
elhi hiddenl and deadly terror over a1ll,
'ent res and soulrces of cile anti (11i
ordI r, evel'y mia might feel that his
familily and hiomei1 were' reasonably safe.
The Invisible i-ire established and
Imaintained law and protection where
coii'ts denied both. But the Ku Klux
liad ien inl ly Cu1lhed in 1874.1
Scores of its Imemibers had fled to Catn
ada or -were in. nort hern penitentiaries.
The white PIeople ,were unguarded, de
fenseiless, desperai'te. In South Carwo
l'ina the groupt in the legislature knowtn
ias "The Forty Thiieves"' had elected
Checking Ac<
Is Business
Recommenda'
The best way to learn
reliability is to inquil
* they do business.
Should someone inq
arnd reputation of al
* transact business, thi
yourself-- and it maysi
pay by check?" The m
be as prompt and
You Think First of
Cheek. The check
tial connection andi a
Which man would you hi
The-man with a bank acc
one without that fore'thou
and care?
Laurens Na
F A TIME
1r Editor of The Greenville
don, Va., Mirror.
Whipper and Moses circuit judges.
Whipper wJys a gross, 'bestial black
tuaii Iron Philadelphia, who traveled
wvith Iin otilit of mulatto Women. \tos
es had beei the "robber governor,"
w\ho as goverior p1eddled pardons to
any criinials, however vicious or vile,
w ho could offer money for them and
had led ribald dances and spent thouls
ands of dollars in it night in 'public
brothels. These men on the bench
l1u1cant usI ;e ot IIe law to persecute
w hite and colored who would not or
coutld not serve them politically or pay
tleir prices. One of the three justices
of the stiprl'e court was a drunken
legro police court shyster, also from
Philadelphia. The attorney general
was another black main from the same
city, venomous as a rattlesnake in
Algust. all the more dangerous be
callse anl orator of real power and it
lawyer of talent ald actitirm(Ients.
I' white men cooperating With thei
wVe' te ( crazed theorists and dream
e's who believed a mass of Iinorait
farm hands could be transformed into
capable Cndti righteous rulers in a year
aid the seum aid offscouriligs of
nottern citeis ieli t ( It n uaItking
heIavy anld <(iuck hatis anld get-Ivays.
IRobbery was jtll an1d shamlieless.
State taxes OI (Coulitry property were
fromli three to six dollars oR ihe huitin
dred with Coinlty taxes un! Iiliited and
hotI conlstanltly incrleasilng. Corn fleld
ilIborers 80R!t. to the legislattre spat
illto white chiina liid-pailited cispi
ors for which the taxpayers were
charged $25 eachl. Every o11ce was
used for plulder, from highest to low
est. The corOIner of ole couility made
his job pay $25,000 a year. State bonds
were issued recklessly and hawked ill
atiAibling houses anld crooked stock
broker oflices at the iorith at any pric.
Tle glimpses we get suggest like Con
ditions ill Russia today.
There was in 'South Carolina a clear
negro majority of 50,000. The election
laws had been framed carefully by the
Repblicablicns to iiakp fraud easy. The
ma1lljolity of the judges at every polling
place were Republicans, usually the
silartest, -bitterest and most determin
ed of the neighborhood. With the elec
tion IIM chiIery and all the forces of
tho law an(d of the state alid federal
g'overnments against them, the white
PeolIe had set themselves to wini or
die-literally. :If they had lost that
election in 1876 thousands of thei
would have gone to the penitentiary,
many of them, probably, the gal
lows, unless they could h, - fled to
safety. Ilampton, 1Iagoov, Butler,
Ga.ry, generals of the Confederacy,
practically all the leading men of the
state, .would have 'been subject to crim
inal prosecution f* direct or indirect
part in what hostile courts would have
made crime. Deadly and secret things
Were done. Somebody at 'Washington,
somiehow, 'got from the war depart-(
ment stores 2,000 Remilngtoni rifles,
with bayonets and amimulnition and
shipped them by sea to !Oharleston for
:ount
tion
i a person's standing and
re of those with whom
uire about the character
mother with whom you
a first question you. ask
abconsciously is, "Does he
an who pays by cash may
all that, but, somehow,
The Man Who 'Pays By
shows a certain substani
ssociation.
re first;
ount or
ght -
tional Ban
EO. H.-BLAKELY, Cashier
the negro militia. Whites were for
bidden' by law to have arms and 4by
proclamation of 'President Grant to as
semble or organize. The rifles and am
munition were taken mysteriously
from the steaishi> wharf at dead of
night and ultimately found their way
to the Democratic white rifle cils.
Nobody dared a protest, probably be
cause the arms 'hiad been taken unlaw
fuilly at W'ashington. The incident was
one of many. Perllaps no newspaper
in al' aese forty-six years has -men
tioled it until now. Republicans stole
the guns from the government, un
doubtedly with the connivance of' high
er offlcials, and a band of young white
ml1en stole them from the Republicans.
Considering the facts, ve enn real
ize why November 7, 1876, was looked
to almost, as a (lay of final judgment
and comprehend something of the fluc
tuations of hope and dread -with which
it was grected. The negroes believed
t1hey would be returned to slavery if
the whites ivon. The whites knew that
defeat for them meant coifiscation of
their property, ruin, destruction, exile.
No record tells how many votes were
cast. Both sides took full advantage
o1' file opportunity for fraud the law
gave. The 11lampton Red Shirt had
succeeded tle Ku Klux. Boys whose
voices 'were yet piping trebles and'bid
m11en1 whose voices had become treble
again donned the red shirts the women
toiled day and night to make, mounted
and rode from poll to poll, voting ev
erywhere, with six-shooters forcing the
judwgi to accept, their votes. Over the
Cataw ba river, from North Carblina,
and the -Savannah frotu Georgia, white
Illell rode in platoons to vote for
Hampton in South Ot-oi:n... In the
rice field districts, wlieie the negroes
were one hundred and '."o hui;e'l tir
one white, th.'y voted their women aA
boys. The whit es had the advantage of
organization, horses and wempons. Out
of the mess and tangle of fraud, :pro
test, destroyed and stuffed ballot lboxes,
I iampton was given a -majority of 1,200
anid layes, 'Republican nominee for
president, a small majority. Some ne
groes had been induced, by one means
or another; to vote for -iampton and
hayes and probably a few iwhite men
also voted so. Then came six fearful
months of doubt, of threat, of danger of
Civil war over the disputed presiden
tial election, between Hlayes and Til
rien. In Soutli Carolina were two state
governments and t'wo legislature,s
b)oth claiming authority, peril of -hor
rible internal conflict every hour, men
walking stiff-gaited because Winches
ter rifles were tfhrust down the legs
!f their breeches. Finally, the com
promise. The three states were sur
rendered to* their white people to gov
arn and the presidency went to Hayes.
'here was general exchange of prison
'Prosecutions of Republicans who
had robbed ami plundered -and of Dem
>crats whio had bulldozed and killed
Ind stuffed ballot boxes were dropped
>y some kind of secret arrangement.
Plh reconstruction experiment, tile
'antastic dream of an empire of the
)lack prolhtariat and the fool's errand
mded. The -members of reconstruction
~overnments vanishled 'between suns.
l'he day that meant doom or deliver
in1ce had( given deliverance at last.
l'hose wpho lived through it never can
Forget it nor what it meant,
It is wvell to. recall the story somel(
times. Its teaching is that the zealot,
the intense fana~tic, the :progressive
Lhinker who thinks navay from facts,
are more'avngerous as leaders than the
sordid cr'ooks and thieves for whom,
Invarialbly and inevitably, they make
r:.+portunity. The one safe guidance
for any government or 'people is the
ifolid common sense of those who ac
(luire it by continuing iftruiggle and
work with the practical and tihe hulman
natur'e of daily life.
BUSINE"S IJETTERt
IN~ SIXTH DISTRIuCT
Monthly Statement Indicates Condi
tions A bove Any Period in 'T w
Years.
Atlanta, Oct. 129.--Business condi
tions ina tile sixth Federal Reserve dis
trict at 'csent are botter than at any
other time during the spast two years,
according to the .monttily review of the
federal reserve bank of 'Atlanta, is-.
sued ton-ight.
TIs situation exists-despite tile fact
that effects of the recent coal and rail
strikes still are 'being -felt, the reviewv
said, stating also that high coal prices
are retarding business to some extent.
Retail business was better in Sep
temlber than in the same month last
year, Six -of the 'wiolesale ling~s in
vestigated sho~w larger trade figures'
than those of hdt~ month, it was stated.
The final 'fianclal returns fromn ag
ricultural cropa o'f tile 'district this
year will exceed those of last year by
a substantial amount, although in sonme
sections some of the crops produced
have n-ot equalled . those of .last year
in actual volum0, said the.- report.
Odorgia, Alabiama, Florida and iart
of Tennessee, Mhississippi at& Tuis..
lana are in the 8ixth district,\
l000 Rod Goos64tta a~ fooks.Fe
to Scihool Clhildre. J, G. Pavat- A o
Honor Roll-Bailey School *
'Seventh Gradc: Mary Templeton,
Robert Martin.
Sixth Grade: Ada Benjamin, Eugene
Brown.
Pifth Grade: izzle Fuller, Joel Fil
ler.
Pourth Grade: Evelyn Rtaliamge, lt.
telle Fuller.
Third Grade: 'Rebecca Milam, Roy
Jerry.
Second Grade: Jack Templeton, Lil-.
lie 'lae Shockley, Wil Lou 'Morrion.
F'irst Grade: Augustus Ramago, Min
nie Adair.
The packag
Your taste c
The sales pr
Over 7 billioi
LIGG-rr & MYERS ToBACCO CO.
You can settle
p You can. come ir
models and finishe
arda lastirng app
PFfes Csrd in' 6- to' f4 Days.
Mhoggstorefund mone if PAZO OINTMdNT falls
cure Itchl I Bin Bloedini- or' Protrudinbi:
1 s.1 ns6ta y relieves Itchibg Plies, and- Y
can geos etfuI sleop- after- firs appilcation..
DIG THiE CROP
Dig sweet potatoes be
in storage.
The Clinton Potato
sweet poiatoes for stora
Saturday last day.
Clintor Potato
suggests it.
onfirms it.
ove it.
I sold yearly
C IGARE']
NOVE MBE
ON TUE WE Tt:
2526272
Tune1 to~
..ta(h
viTR~
'tegf qeto4nwbc
1 ri , nwadrs u
a wla ,Fe gft
ea d erl an o
and IN gathe h i
n O80 I C'
et ade t and ofad of
C iGA frEa V
e ilailieo
yo gae
aOVEMBEC
Colds Caude Otipablifluesa
LAXATIVE DROMO QUINE Tabet remove the
ause. There Is only one "bonmo QuiLtaO."
L W. GROVt'S. dignature on ot,. \
LREAD MADE
fore frost a d put them
Warehouse will receive
ge through this week
Warehouse Co.
e.
CTIES1
~ y77
F
fo10/
choose
ima
0 L
coo segaVitoa
e's from the many
such an inclusive
Ricords. Yoijni
them equally.
hat now lacks the
ood musie, M~ark
ctrola, sute, ahis
niyt seasywhere,
II